What is Spotify Discovery Mode?
Spotify Discovery Mode is a new audience development tool that helps you reach new listeners and grow your fanbase, with no upfront budget required. Discovery Mode gives artists and labels the opportunity to influence the personalization algorithm in select personalized listening contexts. When Discovery Mode is turned on for a given track, it increases the likelihood – but does not guarantee – that songs reach listeners in these contexts.
Since TuneCore is owned by global digital music company Believe, all TuneCore artists using Discovery Mode will be utilizing Believe’s customized track selection technology, which selects the songs that have the best shot at excelling in the program. This means you don’t need to opt tracks in and out because we will take care of this for you.
How much does Discovery Mode cost?
Discovery Mode doesn’t require an upfront budget. Instead, a 30% commission is applied to recording royalties generated from all streams of selected songs in Discovery Mode contexts - Spotify Radio and Autoplay. All other streams of selected songs outside of Spotify Radio and Autoplay remain commission-free.
In testing, Spotify has found that Discovery Mode can inspire further, commission-free exploration of an artist’s catalog. During the first month that a track is opted-in to Discovery Mode, streams within Radio & Autoplay often lead to downstream, organic streams in other areas of Spotify as well.
For a limited time, use of TuneCore’s innovative track selection technology is free of charge for TuneCore’s early adopters to try. We will notify TuneCore Accelerator participants in advance of any changes to the program in the future.
Why is there a negative line item in my TuneCore balance history?
In your Balance History page, the Spotify Discovery Mode commission will be noted as a negative line item in the sales posting. This amount will denote Spotify's commission on tracks streamed in Discovery Mode throughout the reporting period. You can see an example of what these line items look like below.
If you do not have a negative line item, it means that there were no streams subject to Discovery Mode commissions for that month.
How do I opt-in?
If you’ve already opted in to TuneCore Accelerator, you’re all set–Spotify Discovery Mode is now a program within TuneCore Accelerator!
If you've opted out of TuneCore Accelerator and would like to opt in again, you can do that directly from your TuneCore dashboard.
Please note: Spotify Discovery Mode is a program within TuneCore Accelerator. You cannot opt in to any individual tools within TuneCore Accelerator. When you opt into the program, you are giving us permission to opt you into all of the services offered with TuneCore Accelerator.
How do I opt out?
You can opt out at any time directly from your TuneCore dashboard.
You must opt out before the 12th of the month to be sure your tracks are excluded from the next month's campaign. For example, if you do not want your tracks to be included in the June campaign, you'll need to opt out before May 12th.
Please note: Spotify Discovery Mode is a program within TuneCore Accelerator. You cannot opt out of any individual tools within TuneCore Accelerator. When you opt out of the program, you’ll lose access to all TuneCore Accelerator services.
What are the eligibility requirements?
Important: Meeting these requirements does not necessarily guarantee that your track will be chosen for Discovery Mode, but it must meet all of these requirements to be eligible for consideration.
The eligibility requirements are:
- The track must be distributed through TuneCore
- The artist must be credited as a main/primary artist or remixer
- The track must have been released on Spotify 30+ days ago
- The track must have at least 1 radio or autoplay stream in the last 7 days
For the most recent eligibility requirements, see here.
Can I choose the tracks used in Discovery Mode?
No, TuneCore Accelerator does not allow you to choose specific tracks to opt in or out of Discovery Mode.
If you've opted into TuneCore Accelerator, all of the eligible tracks in your account will be considered by our track selection technology for Discovery Mode. If you've opted out, none of your tracks will be considered.
How are my tracks selected for Discovery Mode?
With the aid of our parent company Believe’s track selection technology, TuneCore helps take the guesswork out of picking your tracks. We’ll select tracks with the highest likelihood of excelling in Discovery Mode based on data from hundreds of thousands of tracks. Neither we nor Spotify guarantee the performance of any tracks that are selected for Discovery Mode.